Vern L. Anthony, 88, died Saturday, December 8, 2012 in Rapid City. Vern was born May 2, 1924 in Sidney, Nebraska, the eldest of three children of Marvin and Ruth Anthony. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in Art and Journalism and studied commercial art at the Chicago Institute of Art. He became a sports writer and cartoonist spending most of his productive years creating and selling print advertising. Vern served in both the U.S. Army, 66th Division, during World War II and in the Korean War. On June 7, 1947 he married Lee Anthony, his wife of sixty-five years. They lived in Sidney until moving to Rapid City in 1960. Vern was an avid sports fan coaching his son Doug's little league baseball team and as a booster for daughter Barbara's swim team. He continued his zest for track and field by competing in the Rapid City, South Dakota State and national Senior Olympics for 25 years. No longer able to run, he focused on swimming, shot put and discus. When asked last year, how many people were competing in his age group of 85-90 years, he said, "two of us, and I always get a medal". He and Lee were strong supporters of community youth activities through the United Methodist Church, the Morning Optimist Club, YMCA, and the Rapid City swim and tennis programs. Vern was a member of the Izaak Walton League, wine club and the Chamber of Commerce. A love of sports and the South Dakota athletes who played them was apparent in each of the caricatures that Vern Anthony drew during his 44 years as a sports cartoonist. Former Rapid City Journal sports editor Don Lindner helped launch Anthony's career as a part-time cartoonist while he was working for the Journal's advertising department. Beginning in 1960, Anthony's weekly cartoons, complete with sports trivia, appeared in the Journal sports pages. "He's known around South Dakota for those cartoons," Lindner said. "It went big." Forty-four years and 1,074 cartoons later, Anthony had drawn likenesses of nearly every high school and college athlete of note in western South Dakota and beyond. Between 1960 and 2004, his cartoons captured the highlights and history of local sports personalities. Among the earliest were Legion baseball coaching legend Dave Ploof and one of the last was former Stevens High School athlete and track coach Paul Hendry. "Almost everybody got the original," said Susan Anthony of the gifts that her father made to the subjects of his cartoons. "People loved it when they got the original." The sports cartoons also told a short story of the subject's athletic accomplishments and were reproduced in the book, "44 Years of South Dakota Sports Cartoon History by Anthony," that he published in 2010. Her father loved sports watching them, participating in them and, especially, drawing them, Anthony said. His cartoons were a "labor of love," with at least as much time and attention spent on researching the athletic accomplishments as on the artwork itself. "He loved sports. He loved participating," his daughter said. Anthony was still attending Legion baseball games this summer. More recently, he became a promoter of the youth sports concept, "No Child Left Inside," which encourages children to get outside and get active, something that Anthony remembered about her father from childhood. Anthony's cartoons captured the essence of his subjects, Lindner said. "They were just outstanding," he said. Lindner has an Anthony original of his own. Anthony drew Lindner's likeness upon his retirement as sports editor. "It was a very exciting thing for people who were in them," he said. His other passion was the outdoors and he never missed an opportunity for a good fishing trip, the annual opening weekend of pheasant hunting, spring turkeys, or the fall deer season. When he turned 88 and had to cut back on these outdoor sports, he said he thought his retirement would be spent fishing and hunting. So, what did he think he was doing all these years? Survivors include his wife Lee of Rapid City, daughter Susan Anthony and husband Georg Neumann of Washington, DC, brother Richard Anthony of Phoenix Arizona, grandchildren Leah Merchant (Eric) of Helena, MT, Matt Anthony and Lori Finck of Billings, MT and Clare Dreyer, Anna Reardon (Brian) of Bozeman MT, and three great grandchildren Alexa Finck and Connor Finck of Billings, MT and Aila Merchant of Helena, MT and many other loving family members and friends. Vern was preceded in death by his son Douglas Anthony and daughter Barbara Anthony. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 13, at Osheim & Schmidt Funeral Home. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Friday December 14, at the First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Doug Diehl officiating. Burial, with military honors rendered by Rushmore VFW Post 1273 and the South Dakota Army Reserve National Guard, will be at 1:30 p.m. at the Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis. Memorials may be directed to the Rapid City Morning Optimist Club, PO Box 1034, Rapid City, South Dakota, 57709 to support youth activities in Rapid City.